Book.

So, straight-up, we had this idea about what The Place You're Supposed To Laugh by the Jenn Stroud Rossmann was supposed to be. We heard Silicon Valley and early 2000's and dot-com moguls as neighbors and we assumed, always a mistake, we know, that we were stumbling into some insider parody of the dot-com culture in the vein of yes, Silicon Valley, which we watch and love, or Halt And Catch Fire, which we don't know a fucking thing about, or maybe some riff on The Soul of A New Machine, also loved, a lot. But, no it isn't that, not really, and maybe not at all. Because you see, it has all of that stuff, and yet none of it too, not really. It's the story of a family and a kid and their is strife and love and death and work and siblings and adoption and most of all trying to figure out issues of race, class and wealth, plus how anyone makes friends with anyone or falls in love or stays married. Which is to say, that it's more about being an exercise in domestic fiction with the idea of silicon valley and what that all means wrapped around it and we for one celebrate that. More domestic fiction please and more importantly more stories about more families of all kinds in all kinds of situations. Rossmann give us this, all of this, and she gives it with love and affection and knowingness. And it feels impossible to put down, and not because there's suspense or murder or some impossibly transformative idea that must be solved here, now, but because the writing is so fluid and we care so much about our protagonist Chad and because we have to know what happens to him and his family and friends because Rossmann cares so much about them and that leaps off of the page and it's really kind of lovely. As is Rossmann herself, which we know because we read the book and we had her on This Podcast Will Change Your Life and we now invite you to fully immerse yourself in the Rossmann experience. And not just because we think it must be so, though that's a good enough reason to do anything. It's because we know The Place You're Supposed To Laugh and the Rossmann herself will change your life, and that, well that's the whole point isn't it?